Lesson 12

Grammar Note

Japanese adjectivesJust like English adjectives, Japanese adjectives give information about the noun or pronoun’s definition, on the other hand, Japanese adjectives also function as predicates to a sentence (giving a property to the subject) - where the adjective takes the verb position of the sentence with “です(desu)”.

adjectivenoun は です。

noun adjective.wa desu

スミスさんの うち は おおきいです。Ex.

Mr. Smith’s house is big.

In the above example sentence, “おおきい(ookii)” means just not “big” but “is big”.

is

sumisu san no uchi wa ooki i desu

adjective noun＋

They also function as noun modifiers - where the adjective is adjacent to the noun.

Types of adjectives in Japanese

Ex. おおきい うち＋ooki i uchi

= a big house

However, there are two types of adjectives in Japanese : “i- adjective” and “ na- djectives”.

The “ ” and “ ” are their last syllables when they modify nouns.i-adjectives na-adjectives

i na

Ex. : i-adj. おおきい うち = a big houseo o k i i uchi

Ex. : na-adj. しずかな こうえん = a quiet parkshizukana kouen

This first group is the i-adjectives, so called because they all end with an い ‘i’. When an i-adjective is placed in front of a noun, it modifies the noun directly, and when placed at the end of the sentence, its becomes a predicate with です.

i-adjectives

おおきい です

To change an i-adjective into it’s negative form, replace the final い “i” with くない “ku nai” as in the predicate, thus you can state as “is not [i-adjective]”.

As Predicate: Present Affirmative As Modifier

おおきいbigooki i desu ooki i

noun＋

あたらしい です あたらしく ないですnewatarashi i desu

→As Predicate: Present Affirmative As Predicate: Present Negative

XX atarashiku naidesu

スミスさんの うちは おおきいです。sumisu san no uchi wa ooki i desu

Ex.

Mr. Smith’s house is big.

これは おおきい うちです。kore wa ooki i uchi desuThis is a big house.

Ex. スミスさんの うち は あたらしく ないです。sumisu san no uchi wa atarashiku na idesu

Mr. Smith’s house is not new.

na-adjectivesThe second group, the na-adjectives, are followed by な “na” when used to modify nouns, and by です when used to predicate a sentence. However, when you don’t have to modify nouns with them, you must remove な “na” just as predicates to a sentence.

しずか です

To change an na-adjective into it’s negative form, simply replace です “desu” with ではありません “dewa arimasen”.

As Predicate: Present Affirmative As Modifier

しずかなquietshizuka desu shizukana

noun＋

しずか です しずか ではありませんquietshizuka desu

→As Predicate: Present Affirmative As Predicate: Present Negative

shizuka dewa arimasen

この こうえんは しずかです。kono kouen wa sh izuka desu

Ex.

This park is quiet.

これは しずかな こうえんです。kore wa sh izukana kouen desuThis is a quiet park.

X

この こうえんは しずかなです。X※

※

この こうえんは しずかではありません。kono kouen wa sh izuka dewa ar imasen

Ex.

This park is not quiet.

X

Additional NotesThe negative form of i-adjective いいです (iidesu) becomes よくないです (yoku naidesu) because the original word for “good” in Japanese is よいです (yoi desu). For some historical reason, its negative form follows the original word instead.

いい です よく ないですgoodi i desu

→As Predicate: Present Affirmative As Predicate: Present Negative

XX yoku naidesu

よい ですyoi desu

→

We also have negative forms with modifying nouns for both i and na adjective. However, we do not discuss them in this lesson and we’ll go over them later on the textbook. Therefore, we make negative sentences by changing predicate ending です (desu) into ではありません (dewa arimasen).

これは おおきい うちです。kore wa ooki i uchi desuThis is a big house.

これは しずかな こうえんです。kore wa sh izukana kouen desuThis is a quiet park.

Ex. これは おおきい うち ではありません。kore wa ooki i uchi dewa ar imasenThis is not a big house.

これは しずかな こうえん ではありません。kore wa sh izukana kouen dewa ar imasen

This is not a quiet park.

na-adjectives end with い “i”

There are few na-adjectives which end with い “i” just like i-adjective. For example, ゆうめい (yuumei) that means “famous” ends with い “i”, but it’s in the group of na-adjective. Here’s how to make a distinction between the groups :

famous ゆうめい です

As Predicate: Present Affirmative As Modifier

ゆうめいなyuumei desu yuumeina

noun＋

You have to focus the last two vowels of an adjective

In the Japanese sound system, “ei” vowel combination becomes ええ “ee” in a normal speech speed, not as written as えい “ei”. Therefore any adjectives end with this “ei” combination are defined as na-adjectives.

pretty きれい です きれいなkirei desu kireina

noun＋

Additional Adjectives

benri desuべんりです

fuben desuふべんです

convenient inconvenienturusai desuうるさいです

shizuka desuしずかです

noisy, loud quiet, sereneoishii desuおいしいです

mazui desuまずいです

delicious tasteless

kitanai desuきたないです

kirei desuきれいです

dirty clean, beautifultakai desuたかいです

hikui desuひくいです

high, tall low, shortnagai desuながいです

mijikai desuみじかいです

long short

omoi desuおもいです

karui desuかるいです

heary light

kakkoii desuかっこいいです

cool, groovy, hot

Japanese words for colors as adjective

Color inEnglish

Predicatewith “です”

Modify nouns as i-adj.

Modify nounswith “の”

Noun ascolor name

black くろ(い)です くろい くろ

white しろ (い) です しろい しろ

blue あお (い) です あおい あお (いろ)

red あか (い) です あかい あか (いろ)

yellow きいろです きいろい きいろの きいろ

brown ちゃいろです ちゃいろい ちゃいろの ちゃいろ

green みどりです みどり (いろ) の みどり (いろ)

purple むらさきです むらさき (いろ) の むらさき (いろ)

pink ピンクです ピンク (いろ) の ピンク (いろ)

orange オレンジです オレンジ (いろ) の オレンジ (いろ)

any other colors <color>です <color> (いろ) の <color> (いろ)